In motor vehicle steering gears commonly referred to as "integral gears", a worm shaft of the gear is connected to the vehicle's steering wheel for unitary rotation therewith and a pitman shaft of the gear is connected to steering linkage such that rotation of the pitman shaft effects linear displacement of the linkage. Gear teeth on a recirculating ball nut on the worm shaft mesh with gear teeth on a sector on the pitman shaft to effect concurrent rotation of the worm and pitman shafts. In power assisted integral gears, the ball nut is referred to as a "rack piston" because it also functions as a piston of a fluid motor. Several proposals have been advanced to remove tooth clearance or "lash" between the gear teeth on the ball nut and on the sector, including rotating or rolling the ball nut about the centerline of the worm shaft to wedge portions of the teeth thereon into corresponding portions of the sector gear teeth. U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,399, issued 14 May 1974 and assigned to the assignee of this invention, is representative. A motor vehicle steering gear according to this invention is an improvement over the integral gear described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,399.